The news release recognizes the anxiety we are experiencing. It also points out that the Conservatives have exacerbated those fears with closed doors negotiations.

The news release concludes:

“Canada cannot accept an agreement that violates Canadians’ rights,” said Rankin. “I am asking that the government acknowledge the very legitimate public concerns about the FATCA, bring transparency to this process and inform Parliamentarians on the state of negotiations as soon as possible.”

Hazy, that information from advisor.ca is scary. I think it should have a thread of its own. Would you do that?

I’m stumped as to how financial advisors in Canada can ask clients if they are a “US client,” “US taxpayer” or “US person.”

They again conveniently neglected to mention CRA does not and will not collect for IRS for any Canadian citizen.

Has anyone consulted a lawyer regarding mutual fund or investment accounts? When three of us consulted Joe Arvay, we only spoke about bank accounts. We did not raise the issue of mutual funds or investment accounts. I would not be a good person to do a consultation about that because I don’t have either of those types of accounts.

“We’re in a window in which we need to get [a Canada-U.S. IGA] very soon – in the next four to six weeks,” Taylor says, “or we’re going to have to look at some of the timelines again [for FATCA] implementation dates.”

Advisors must be more diligent in determining whether clients truly are U.S. resident taxpayers, and remind them of their obligations. For our part, we won’t open accounts until prospects provide copies of their passports and sign IRS Form W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification).